The Fat Loss TroubleshootThis is your place to troubleshoot your fat loss problems from nutrition to training. This section is led by Leigh Peele, author of "The Fat Loss Troubleshoot," the ultimate fat loss manual. If your results have slowed or stalled this is the place to come for advice for all your fat loss needs.
Yes, I use fitday.com and use gram measurement or oz.
So I weigh the 1/2 banana, which is often 85g and enter that in fitday.com ... i have created many many custom foods also. When I do that, I do not call it 1 serving, from the start I enter it as grams.
That's probably what I should have done, had I known about weighing your food. But now I have all these dozens of custom foods in Fitday, and would have to divide them all up so that I know how many calories/carbs/proteins are in each gram so I could just put the numbers in. Oh well! Sparkpeople seems to be easier to as far as entering grams goes.
And I AM amazed at the difference by weighing! Wow.
Weighing food is so eye-opening, and like I said earlier, it does get easier and you will find mistakes you've made and start correcting them as you go.
Consider starting a log here in the training log section, put a link to your online food diary, and people will be more than willing to help out if things don't seem to be heading the right direction.
You sound nicely motivated right now, and in a very positive frame of mind.
And as far as walking goes, it's how I lost my weight in the past, and it's what I'm concentrating on again today. It burns lots of calories and doesn't beat up the body.
That's probably what I should have done, had I known about weighing your food. But now I have all these dozens of custom foods in Fitday, and would have to divide them all up so that I know how many calories/carbs/proteins are in each gram so I could just put the numbers in. Oh well! Sparkpeople seems to be easier to as far as entering grams goes.
And I AM amazed at the difference by weighing! Wow.
You can edit the custom foods in fitday. As you eat one of them, with the package in front of you, edit it so serving size is grams, and 1 portion = x grams, which is always listed on package.
Question: on your "breaks" and vacations, do you know if you might be blowing your past weeks' deficit by hotel and restaurant food? I still think you can't lose weight by increasing calories, that you have to decrease them. But perhaps for you, increasing will work, you'll have to see. For me, looking back, I am sure I ate 3000-6000 calories daily no problemo ... when I was on a "frustration break"
Also, re walking... Leigh said, this does not mean power walking.. it's a look at the birds and flowers kind of pace. I admit that I stride rather than stroll, but I keep Leigh's coaching in mind and don't power walk.
I have increased my walking and got 10,000 steps in each day for the past 2 days and my calorie burn has picked up tremendously without overstressing my body. I lost 127 lbs before and the only exercise was walking except for bike riding for fun. Plus I had some really hot looking legs.
You can edit the custom foods in fitday. As you eat one of them, with the package in front of you, edit it so serving size is grams, and 1 portion = x grams, which is always listed on package.
Question: on your "breaks" and vacations, do you know if you might be blowing your past weeks' deficit by hotel and restaurant food? I still think you can't lose weight by increasing calories, that you have to decrease them. But perhaps for you, increasing will work, you'll have to see. For me, looking back, I am sure I ate 3000-6000 calories daily no problemo ... when I was on a "frustration break"
Also, re walking... Leigh said, this does not mean power walking.. it's a look at the birds and flowers kind of pace. I admit that I stride rather than stroll, but I keep Leigh's coaching in mind and don't power walk.
The times I gained on my breaks was because I got really sick of not eating carbs, so I added them back in. Thus, any gains during my breaks were either water from carbs or water from sodium (restaurant food causes me to gain gobs of water). When I got back from Palm Springs on Saturday, I was at 245; I'm at 242 even this morning. So yeah -- sodium.
If I were to drop the carbs right now, I guarantee you I'd lose 6 pounds within a week and be back at 236, which is always my settling weight once all the glycogen is gone. I never get past that; I can gain & lose water with no problem. The problem is burning the FAT. I get to 236 and just teeter back and forth without making any progress in pounds OR inches, even with carbs severely restricted. And of course with carbs (healthy ones) not restricted, I am where I am today -- low 240s. MAN, I can't wait to get a GWF!!
Thanks for the info on the walks! I'd wondered about that. I didn't really power walk (I always think of that as being right on the cusp of running), but yes -- yesterday I did what I would call a stride. It wasn't a stroll for sure. I just didn't know how much of a break I really needed to give myself on the exercise. I did do an hour yesterday & split it up.
I have increased my walking and got 10,000 steps in each day for the past 2 days and my calorie burn has picked up tremendously without overstressing my body. I lost 127 lbs before and the only exercise was walking except for bike riding for fun. Plus I had some really hot looking legs.
THANKS FOR REMINDING ME! I'm sitting here with my workout clothes on and with my socks/shoes in my lap, getting ready to do the first half of my walk today (but stopped at the computer on the way down the stairs), and remembered that I'd told myself to remember to put on my pedometer this morning before I walked this morning! I'll let you know at the end of the day how I did with my steps & calories!
Weighing food is so eye-opening, and like I said earlier, it does get easier and you will find mistakes you've made and start correcting them as you go.
Consider starting a log here in the training log section, put a link to your online food diary, and people will be more than willing to help out if things don't seem to be heading the right direction.
You sound nicely motivated right now, and in a very positive frame of mind.
And as far as walking goes, it's how I lost my weight in the past, and it's what I'm concentrating on again today. It burns lots of calories and doesn't beat up the body.
I looked at one of your food logs yesterday and was encouraged at the number of calories. Or maybe it was Lyricas . . . I saw one of yours but saw one of hers too. I think I've been undereating if I had been on 1200 and you guys are at 1600-1800.
Actually, I think the one I saw of yours was your GWF log in Excel? You'll have to send me that template once I get a GWF. I'm a numbers person. I know Excel pretty well, but would be a little iffy about the formulas to do the +/- 10% for the margin of error.
For one of my snacks yesterday I had an apple, a banana, and some trail mix. I wanted to barf. The fruit's great for you, no doubt -- my tummy's just so small. It feels like I have a whole steak stuck in my chest. Ugh. I was praying I wasn't have to go spit it out. It settled finally without too much pain.
From what you describe it doesn't sound like your pouch but maybe your stoma is too small or restricted and food travels through your pouch too slowly. This is just my opinion but food travels pretty rapidly through my pouch and I don't get that restricted feeling but I have seen postings like yours from those with stoma problems. It could be a simple fix like having a balloon endoscopy to open the stoma more. I sure hope you get it figured out. You may have to resort to chopping or pureeing some of your foods if your problem continues. I am glad to see you feel better and have a handle on things.
The times I gained on my breaks was because I got really sick of not eating carbs, so I added them back in. Thus, any gains during my breaks were either water from carbs or water from sodium (restaurant food causes me to gain gobs of water). When I got back from Palm Springs on Saturday, I was at 245; I'm at 242 even this morning. So yeah -- sodium.
If I were to drop the carbs right now, I guarantee you I'd lose 6 pounds within a week and be back at 236, which is always my settling weight once all the glycogen is gone. I never get past that; I can gain & lose water with no problem. The problem is burning the FAT. I get to 236 and just teeter back and forth without making any progress in pounds OR inches, even with carbs severely restricted. And of course with carbs (healthy ones) not restricted, I am where I am today -- low 240s. MAN, I can't wait to get a GWF!!
Thanks for the info on the walks! I'd wondered about that. I didn't really power walk (I always think of that as being right on the cusp of running), but yes -- yesterday I did what I would call a stride. It wasn't a stroll for sure. I just didn't know how much of a break I really needed to give myself on the exercise. I did do an hour yesterday & split it up.
The GWF isn't magic cure, but it is a strong motivator to move more.
Leigh Peele, whom you may not have experienced, will be starting a new program in October, that many of us are expectantly looking forward to, called "Body By Eats." She won't diagnose your medical issues, but she is really talented and educated and bluntly honest and funny and truly compassionate... in seeing places you may be missing or misinterpreting. I believe there will be some monthly fee. Also, she will be having some individual coaching by phone or email (not sure), to some few individuals. You might spend some time in the next 2 weeks over at her website www.leighpeele.com reading blog posts and listening to the mp3's... and sign up your email to get notices, so that you can be on top of the list for possible coaching...
I have increased my walking and got 10,000 steps in each day for the past 2 days and my calorie burn has picked up tremendously without overstressing my body. I lost 127 lbs before and the only exercise was walking except for bike riding for fun. Plus I had some really hot looking legs.
I put on my pedometer this morning. It's 9:24 am, and I've already hit 4880 steps. That's from my 30 minute walk, getting my kids ready for school, making their breakfast, looking for lost homework (sigh), checking their rooms, packing their backpacks, cleaning the kitchen, getting them off to school, praying with them before they left the car to have a good day, coming home to making my own breakfast, and finally hiking myself up here to the computer. Whew! So here I sit (finally ) with my coffee!
I still have my other 30 minutes of walking to go, AND housework, so I'm going to hit 10k easy today. So far it's reading 297 calories.
From what you describe it doesn't sound like your pouch but maybe your stoma is too small or restricted and food travels through your pouch too slowly. This is just my opinion but food travels pretty rapidly through my pouch and I don't get that restricted feeling but I have seen postings like yours from those with stoma problems. It could be a simple fix like having a balloon endoscopy to open the stoma more. I sure hope you get it figured out. You may have to resort to chopping or pureeing some of your foods if your problem continues. I am glad to see you feel better and have a handle on things.
You don't feel any restriction when you eat? Really?? It's all so confusing, because I thought our surgeries are supposed to give us that restricted feeling? This morning for breakfast I had 2 scrambled eggs and 2 slices of whole wheat toast with SF jelly. I started feeling the first signal of fullness when 1/2 the eggs were gone and I'd only eaten 1 slice of toast. But if I had stopped there, I wouldn't be getting the calories I needed so I finished it. I'm now full, but not stuffed -- but two hours from now when I'm supposed to eat again, I won't feel like doing it; I'll still feel full.
The way our pouches was explained to me is that you don't drink w/ your meals because your food is supposed to stay in your pouch to allow you to feel fuller longer. By drinking with your meals, I was told you supposedly wash down all your food and get hungry faster.
Now, it doesn't work that way with me. With the exception of when I'm first getting up in the morning (or in the middle of the night) I don't get hungry during the day UNLESS I've gone about 6 hours without eating. Otherwise, my first signal of hunger is low blood sugar -- sweating/shakiness. Hunger pangs don't start until much later, if at all.
Drinking with my meals doesn't make any difference for me in the hunger department. Whether I drink with my meals or not, I don't get hungry during the day unless I've gone 6 hrs or more without eating (or if I've eaten something refined, or a carb without a protein).
Yesterday, by the way, I made it to 2100 calories -- and didn't wake up hungry in the middle of the night!! Yahoo! Of course that might have something to do with the tuna sandwich w/cheese I had before bed to tide me through the night. I WAS hungry when I woke up this morning, so it was a bit delayed, but at least it didn't wake me up out of my sleep as it usually does.
No you are not supposed to feel restricted or have pain-though it is uncomfortable if you overeat. You are supposed to feel full not in pain. You don't drink right away after meals because it will push the food through your pouch even faster than it already moves. That's why I think you have a stoma problem. I would switch out one of the pieces of toast for some type of protein-in your condition even 1 pc of toast will be very filling and could be painful. I took it very easy on bread type products my first year when I was rapidly losing.
Well, good luck! I am sorry I don't have any advice to give you! But I have heard in other places that sometimes, esp. after eating low calories for a while, you have to up cals to see changes. So the above advice may help! I hope so!
While back you talked about your job and having to sit at your computer. Maybe you could try using an exercise ball instead of your office chair. I use one at night while watching tv to increase my NEAT.
Your an inspiration with your stick with it attitude!!!! Good luck and keep with it. You WILL find something that works!!
While back you talked about your job and having to sit at your computer. Maybe you could try using an exercise ball instead of your office chair. I use one at night while watching tv to increase my NEAT.
Your an inspiration with your stick with it attitude!!!! Good luck and keep with it. You WILL find something that works!!
Thanks so much for your encouragement! Hmmm, now there's a thought. How would that help? I've never heard of that before? I mean I've heard of the exercise ball, but how do you use it to increase your NEAT?
Well, I'm splitting up my cardio into two 30 minute waaaaaalking sessions now. I just finished with my 2nd one about an hour ago, and then . . . I felt something I've never felt during the day before. HUNGER! I was like, "Yikes! I NEVER feel hungry during the day!!" That means my metabolism is ramping back up. Right? Right?!
Those 30 minute sessions go by fast if I do it while I'm watching TV. I mean they went by fast before when I was running, but really thought I'd be bored to tears not only just walking, but doing it twice in a day. I'm finding that I like being able to get off the treadmill instead of sliding off.
I was really skeptical about the walking, but whoever suggested the one-hour walking -- you may have given me my solution. I'll keep you all posted! My pedometer is reading 11,143 steps, 687.7 calories, 4.21 miles and the day's not over yet!!!
Yesterday, by the way, I made it to 2100 calories -- and didn't wake up hungry in the middle of the night!! Yahoo! Of course that might have something to do with the tuna sandwich w/cheese I had before bed to tide me through the night. I WAS hungry when I woke up this morning, so it was a bit delayed, but at least it didn't wake me up out of my sleep as it usually does.
Sleep can be a factor in weight loss so sleeping through the night could be a helpful change all on it's own.
__________________
"Time and patience are the 2 elements that most people don't include in their plans."
-Alan Aragon
"The scale simply tells you how much the earth loves you on a particular day."
-Ogedei (Keith)
When you sit on an exercise ball, all of your stabilizer muscles work harder to keep you up right. You can also take a break and just bounce up and down(fun) or bust out some crunches(not as much fun). It just makes me think more about my body than just flopping in a chair. :-)
Okay, I just have to give you guys an update! Whoever told me to stop running and walk -- bless you! I have to admit, I was (inwardly) VERY cynical about "just walking" when I had been working so hard at exercise for so long without any results. I really had a hard time believing that that could actually work. I started walking on Friday, September 18, so today has been three weeks. I haven't missed one day except for my rest day (Sundays), so for three weeks I've walked 6 hours a week.
(Drumroll, please!) . . . I have lost 8.5 pounds! I have dropped from 245 to 236.5 today! It has come gradually, my weight is not fluctuating crazily like it did before. And my clothes are starting to fit more loose on the top half of my body -- indicating that this isn't just water loss, but FAT loss!
I wish someone would have told me this earlier. It would have saved 1 1/2 years of lost time. But at least I found out! I have an endoscopy scheduled for 10/30. I would probably keep the appointment if it just cost my regular co-pay -- but it's going to cost $150. I was praying that between October 1 and October 30 that the walking would work, because I really didn't want to spend that just to have them tell me my surgery was working fine. $150 just doesn't come easy these days . . .
I finally feel like there's hope.
A whole year and a half, and it never occurred to the "professionals" that the issue wasn't that I wasn't working HARD enough, but wasn't working LONG enough! When I would see doctors because I wasn't losing, they would ask me what I was doing. They would either say what I was doing was okay, or that it "wasn't enough." I always interpreted that as "you're not working HARD enough." I couldn't imagine how I could do an entire hour of step aerobics -- 30 minutes was exhausting!
But once I took someone's advice and started wearing my pedometer again . . . I realized that I wasn't getting enough steps in. I had assumed that by running I was getting more steps in in 30 minutes than I would with walking. I discovered that I basically made the SAME amount of steps whether I walked OR ran for 30 minutes! I also found that the ONLY way to get my steps to the 10,000 mark was to get an hour of exercise in. Since I can't run or do step aerobics for a full hour, then walking was the best remedy!
My calories really haven't changed all that much -- I'm still eating between 900 and 1300 calories a day. The problem never was my food, and it wasn't that I wasn't exercising enough days of the week, or that I wasn't exercising at all. It was the fact that I was doing the WRONG exercise, and the consequence of that was that I therefore wasn't getting enough exercise -- speaking of the DURATION.
Congrats on the changes. I think we've seen that a lot - that those 30 minutes in the gym aren't any more important than the rest of the day. I'm one of the people that finds walking a great exercise for me. Hey, if nothing else, when I'm out walking I'm not in the house looking for something to eat.
I like the scenery walking outside as well. Although now that the fall is here I'll have to remind myself that walking on the treadmill can be a good way to catch up on tv shows that I have on disc.
Glad to hear again that you've seen some positive changes. Good luck for October (and further as well).
I am so happy for you that you are seeing results after all this time! I (previously) scoffed at walking too, but I am finding in this round of fat loss my energy and recovery are pathetic and my overall crappy-feelingness are way higher. 2 days of 'real' workouts and I ache all over. Like you have found, the easiest way to keep my overall movement up is to walk for a long time, not that fast. I try to go long enough to get my pedometer over 2,000 calories which usually ends up about 10,000 steps. Funny how that works :-) Usually it takes 2.5-3 miles extra so about an hour. Seems to be easier on me than trying to take my OPT deficit off 1750 or 1800 which is what it shows when I sit around all day!
Congrats again on your results! 8.5 lbs is a great accomplishment!!!
This is inspiring. I've been lazy about my walking, (I also switched from exercise to walking on Sept 3)... But I like that you say "6 hours per week," since I've been feeling overwhelmed about "walk a lot," and I will take on the 6 hours of walking challenge!!! (beyond my just commuting to work type walking)....
I'm glad to hear of the success. I've been lurking here to listen to the advise and watch progress. It's great that walking is going well with the regime. I'm a major walker because our family does not own a car. I can easily get 2-4,000 steps on a slow day and up to 15,000 on busy days.
For weight loss, I had to add cardio. I never "counted my walking" but always had a weekly goal of 40-70,000 steps. Mostly because I HAVE to walk to get around but also to hedge my math for calorie counting errors. It's taken me eight months to lose about 90% of my weight (about 1.5 pounds a week). With cardio, I started off at 3x week, then 4x week, then finally 5x week. As I got smaller, I found that I needed to modify. Now as I'm getting close to my goal weight, I have to have precision exercise and calorie counting. I just don't lose as much at this smaller body than before.
I also found that I need balance was important for my metabolism: 8 hours sleep, focused stress reduction, eating all my five food groups, some cardio, some walking, some weight resistance (hand weights), and support. If I'm not getting enough sleep, I slow down on my weight loss and health goals. My work is a hyper-stress situation so I've been focusing to stay positive, release irritating issues, take deep breaths, etc. I am a fanatic about my food groups and track these along with my calories (I eat 1300 cal/day and am vegetarian: 4 calcium-rich food, 7-9 protein-rich food, 6 vegetable servings, 2-3 fruit servings, and 2-3 whole grains).
For food, I follow a regime called volumetrics (see the very helpful book by Barbara Rolls). You may find good articles by the Mayo Clinic on low-energy density foods. Basically, it says that you need to feel full to have success. Eating high energy-dense foods like 1/4 cup raisins are high calorie and a small portion without significant filling ability. Eating low energy-dense foods like 1 cup grapes allow for larger portions and have high filling ability. Volumetrics suggests to eat frequent small meals throughout the day to maintain a balanced metabolism. Eat low-energy dense foods like bean sprouts, lettuce, cauliflower, mushrooms, onions (there's a large list via google). Eat meals that fill you up, are very enjoyable, counted calories, and low-energy dense. I focus very strongly on eating very filling foods (beans, whole grains, vegetables). I also am a very firm believer in MUFA's (mono-unsaturated fatty acids) which you can learn much more at Prevention.com.
Finally, this site is great for support. Support is essential. I have been a member of 3fatchicks.com for 9 to 12 months. There is so much information and a section for every type of weight loss. It's a huge site. Lots of people with surgery (before, during, soon-after, long-after). It's amazing.
Congrats to you! I was one of those that advised you to try walking and cut the cardio and am glad it is working. Please post back and let us know how it goes.
It's amazing isn't it.. we all (I at least) used to be convinced that you had to work really hard & intense in order to see results, completely forgetting that 1-2 hrs of extremely hard work in the gym every other day would result in being far too wiped out for 23 other hours of the day which completely NEGATES the effect of that very hard work.
In numbers: say you do 6 METS in the gym for 1 hour, sleep @ 1MET for 8 hrs, but as a result see 15 other hours drop from 2 to 1 MET or from 3 to 2 MET.. that's horrible.
Never mind how disrupted wrecks havoc with weight loss.
Contrast this with 4-5 METS burned with each hour of LEISURELY walking while you don't even feel it as an effort and are able to burn so much more in the 15 other hours that you are at home/work, ... that's a dramatic difference!
The fruit's great for you, no doubt -- my tummy's just so small. It feels like I have a whole steak stuck in my chest. Ugh. I was praying I wasn't have to go spit it out. It settled finally without too much pain.
(sigh), checking their rooms, packing their backpacks, cleaning the kitchen, getting them off to school, praying with them before they left the car to have a good day, coming home to making my own breakfast, and finally hiking myself up here to the computer. Whew! So here I sit (finally 
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